DIY polish/painted inlet manifold

[Critical_Mass 10]

'lo All!

 

Firstly sorry if this has been covered before, i couldnt find anything with the search, apart from one really short thread. Anyway... Have anyone polished or painted (or even both) their inlet manifold on their VR? Mines looking a little tatty and i wanted to make it look a better then it does.

 

If anyone has done it, which im sure someone has, what procedure did you follow and what will i need to do it, ie what paint, tools etc?

 

Also can someone tell me the procedure for removing the inlet manifold and is there i need to know before removing and refitting it?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Cheers

[bananawhip 0]

I have a polished manifold with a black powder coated rocker cover and it looks awesome if I don't mind saying myself :)

 

The rocker cover doesn't really need to be professionally painted but it will only set you back around £20 if you get it done. The manifold will only cost you about £30-£40 to be properly machine polished so again I'd just let the pro's do it.

 

When you take them off which will take around an hour depending on experience obviously do it when the engine is nice and cold, have some jubilee clips spare as you will need to cut some clips off the pipes if it's never been off before, and make sure you buy replacement gaskets just to be sure.

 

You don't really need the HT removel tool as you can undo the leads at the coil pack side and lift it off, do make sure though you've got a really good 6mm allen key/socket for taking the manifold off as rounding them off at this point is all too easy and a serious pain in the rear.

 

Good luck

[Critical_Mass 10]

Thanks for the reply.I may see about getting someone to do it for me then if its that cheap. Though i am willing to give it a go myself. Is it a case of sanding and wet and dry then polishing to get it to shine?

 

I wont need a new gasket etc as it had a new one about a month ago.

[bananawhip 0]

yeah gasket should be fine then mate, Don't know a huge amount about polishing but I know if you just buy the item already done then it's silly money, learning yourself is definately the better option but I'm too lazy so just pay for it to be done.

Don't know too much about it but you're on the right lines, google it and I'm sure you'll find the right technique.

[A1 VR6 0]

The shape of the manifold means you can easily do most of the hard work with a standard flat sander. Use a rough grade paper to start then just work down using finer grades of paper then eventually hand polishing with wet and dry. Very difficult though unless you remove the manifold from the car.

 

You can buy allen keys with a hexagonal socket and a ball on the other end which allows bolts to be undone with these inserted at an angle - very useful on the VR manifold given where they're sited. I would also recommend a new gasket for the manifold and throttle body and manifold bolts as the last thing you want is unregulated air leaking in - these aren't expensive.

 

The other thing you need is a torque wrench - the manifold bolts need to be set at 16 ft/lbs IIRC.

 

Hope that helps :)

[Critical_Mass 10]

Your manifold looks the dogs! Where you get the chrome VR^ DOHC cover?

 

Yes i would take it off the car to do. No need to get any gaskets, its a reconditioned engine is only about 1500 miles old :D If i chose to paint some of the maifold black, can i get the paint from halfords or like. Obviously it would be heat resistant paint.

 

Is all that needs to be removed to get the manifold off is - ht leads, engine plastics, throttle body.. anything else?

 

Cheers for the replies!!!

[A1 VR6 0]

Your manifold looks the dogs! Where you get the chrome VR^ DOHC cover?

 

Yes i would take it off the car to do. No need to get any gaskets, its a reconditioned engine is only about 1500 miles old :D If i chose to paint some of the maifold black, can i get the paint from halfords or like. Obviously it would be heat resistant paint.

 

Is all that needs to be removed to get the manifold off is - ht leads, engine plastics, throttle body.. anything else?

 

Cheers for the replies!!!

 

Got the cover from Niko in Finland who used to post on here - think he only had 10 made in Germany. It's stainless steel and I sand blasted the lettering on after getting some transfers made up. If you paint the cover just make sure you degrease and prime properly.

 

Apart from what you've mentioned I think you only have to disconnect the ISV but it is about 5-6 years since I did it.

 

Only thing I would say is no matter how much you polish there will be slight pitting if you look closely as it's a casting - well worth the effort though :)

[Critical_Mass 10]

Cheers for your help, much appreciated.

 

The cover looks spot on and rare by the sound of it!! :lol:

 

Not bothered if the manifold doesn't come out perfect it'll be better than it is now.